As the founder and CEO of DNEG, a seven-time Academy Award-winning visual effects firm, Namit Malhotra has cemented his place as an influential figure in cinema.

From Hollywood blockbusters to Bollywood epics, DNEG’s list of works includes titles like “Inception,” “Dune” and “Oppenheimer.”

But Malhotra isn't just about crafting the visual look of hit movies — he also has producing cred. His production company, Prime Focus Studios, is currently working on “The Angry Birds Movie 3.” Malhotra is also the lead producer on “The Garfield Movie” starring Chris Pratt and “Animal Friends” starring Ryan Reynolds.

Hailing from Mumbai, Malhotra's journey from Bollywood to Hollywood includes twists and turns, and more are on the way. Artificial intelligence will reshape the industry, he predicts, telling Benzinga: “Bring it on.”

Read on to hear his thoughts on the latest trends in entertainment, the future of the box office and why cinema is ready for the AI boom.

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BZ: An AI-focused film school is opening in Mumbai. What are your thoughts about how this new tech is seeping into the movies?

Malhotra: AI is just another tool in the hands of creators, much like the many tools we’ve seen in the past. It can learn, adapt and improve over time, making it a dynamic asset that helps bring visions to life faster, cheaper and better. I’m not threatened by it. I’m one of those guys who is sitting here and saying, “Bring it on.” It’s good for us in every sense of the word.

There’s such a need to raise the standard of storytelling for the consumers of the world, for the content creators, this sort of helps raise that game. You still need bespoke storytelling.

Take Steven Spielberg or James Cameron — top directors craft stories in a way that gives audiences a unique experience no one else can. That's not what AI is meant to do. AI isn't here to take over but to democratize tools for creators. Just like the iPhone created a new wave of content creators on platforms like Instagram and YouTube, AI is making content creation more accessible and engaging. I’m a positive believer in its impact.

BZ: Can AI measure up to what artists like, say, “Garfield” creator Jim Davis, can offer?

AI can't replace the unique imagination of artists. While AI relies on data and is backward-looking, imagination is forward-thinking and personal. AI can be a powerful tool to help creators work faster and more efficiently. But ultimately, it has to have your own stamp on it.

Everybody’s expression is inspired by something they’ve consumed, read or experienced. And AI is an incredibly powerful tool, unless you become lazy. See, that’s the fear we always have. If we use new technology and say, “Oh, now I don’t have to do anything… I can just sit back, press a few buttons and I have a script.” If that’s what happens, then you’re toast.

BZ: Between running DNEG as CEO and producing at Prime Focus Studios, where do you see yourself headed as a filmmaker?

It’s working with the Christopher Nolan’s or the Denis Villeneuve’s of the world. From our standpoint: If you can dream it, we can do it. That’s sort of the belief on which we operate as a business or as a company that works with filmmakers.

My encouragement to any director is: “We’ll find a way to make it happen.” That’s the only way you can create. Think out of the box and create something that audiences are excited about. But we try to tell stories that the world has not seen before. That’s a constant challenge we all have: to reinvent ourselves in a bigger, better way.

BZ: During the strikes, DNEG asked staff to take a pay cut. Will workers get paid more in 2025 and 2026? Because it seems like, in Hollywood, the attitude is: “Hey, you’re just lucky to be here.”

I don’t think anybody’s got that high-headed approach. There’s no need for that. People forget that, between the COVID-19 pandemic and two years after, everybody got a 30%-40% pay increase, everybody made more money, and there was the Great Resignation. Everybody was moving companies and the industry was booming. There were thousands of jobs and thousands of people across the board who were making money.

BZ: And then it contracted?

And then it contracted. It’s not just visual effects. It happened across the board. Some people went nine months without getting $1. They were doing odd jobs. There were makeup people visiting home visits and doing hair and makeup for people at minimum wage.

So, if you think about what a situation like that causes, and it’s nothing we can control. Visual effects were just one component of this macro ecosystem.

What can we do when there are no films being made? We have to find a way to preserve as many jobs as possible and continue on that paradigm. People who took off in the pandemic and started working from home have still not come back. The industry kind of made a decisive shift.

Everybody’s back in offices for the most part. Visual effects are not. So, the cost of operating from home is lower. Everything has a relative advantage or disadvantage baked into that. I don’t want to be generically speaking about everything, but I do believe that there is demand for content. Whether “Gladiator” performs really well or another film performs less, the bottom line is that there is demand — people want to watch content either on a streaming platform or in theaters.

So my general belief is much more optimistic about the world and how the industry bounces back. Content is not going away. It’s not like people are saying, “I never want to watch another Batman movie, or I never want to watch the next Spider-Man.” It’s the opposite.

BZ: What’s next?

I’m bringing to the world the greatest epic of Indian culture: “Ramayana.” It’s from 2,000 years ago and we’re producing it at a scale and scope that is unprecedented in the industry. Nobody’s been able to tell that story at the scale and the grandeur of what it truly deserves, or what has been imagined by the sage, Valmiki, who wrote it.

This is our opportunity to leverage the technology that’s out there and bring such opportunities to the world, which would have otherwise gone unnoticed. That’s what I’m excited about and what we’re doing next.

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Photo: Courtesy of Prime Focus Studios